Man charged after home raids in Kenton, Newcastle

A MAN is today appearing in court over allegedly violent home raids in Newcastle.

A MAN is today appearing in court over allegedly violent home raids in Newcastle.

Anthony John Strain has been charged with two counts of aggravated burglary, following the incidents on Saturday.

A disabled pensioner and her two sons were at one of the homes, in Kenton Bank Foot, when raiders allegedly struck.

Robbie and David Hicks, aged 48 and 50, and their 78-year-old mother Marianne, are all said to have been terrorised during the incident, at their home in Thornbury Close, Kenton Bank Foot, Newcastle.

In a second incident a 67-year-old man was allegedly injured when he approached burglars in the garage at his home on Station Road, in Kenton Bank Foot.

Today, Anthony John Strain, 30, of Deepdale Gardens, Kenton, was due to appear at Newcastle Magistrates Court charged with two counts of aggravated burglary.

Police are also continuing to probe four other incidents which happened across Newcastle this weekend.

Over several hours on Friday night, hooded thieves were spotted in up-market locations across Tyneside and Northumberland, including Jesmond, Ponteland and Gosforth.On Friday, police were also called to Darras Road, in Ponteland, after hooded men wearing balaclavas were spotted in a man’s garden at around 10pm.

When he went out the house to chase them, he was threatened by one of the men but not injured. One of the men was seen with bolt cutters and the pair made off in a small hatchback car believed to be a red Peugeot.

Police were also called at around 8.10pm on Friday after a woman reported that her purse had been stolen in Lonsdale Terrace in Jesmond.

Two men then ran off and got into what is believed to be a dark Peugeot car. The woman was shocked but otherwise uninjured.

An hour later a 22-year-old woman had her handbag snatched as she walked along Hazelwood Avenue in Jesmond.

Two masked men approached her, demanded her handbag, and ripped it from her grasp before running down a nearby alley. The woman was shocked but otherwise uninjured.

At 11.45pm officers were called to Whitebridge Parkway in Gosforth after receiving a call about suspicious people looking into houses and trying doors in the street.

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